Hockey under the open sky: Hlohovec hosts the RAHL Winter Classic with three key matchups

Saturday, 31 January 2026, will belong to hockey in Hlohovec. The municipal rink (Bezručová 2) will host the RAHL Winter Classic, which brings three RAHL league games across all the competitions. The RAHL Winter Classic delivers hockey in the unusual atmosphere of an open-air rink, where the game is faster and tougher and the emotions are closer to the spectators. The program is put together so that fans of the various teams, and of the league itself, all get their money’s worth.

The RAHL Winter Classic itself opens with an RAHL3 game at 8:30 between Pressburg Reapers and Alpha Hockey Team. The teams have already met once this season, and that time it was the Alpha players who celebrated a 6:3 win. In the overall standings, however, with three rounds to go, it is Pressburg Reapers who are better off, and with a big dose of luck they can theoretically still fight their way into the playoffs and compete for the overall RAHL3 title.

The second game of the RAHL Winter Classic is an RAHL1 matchup between HK Petržalka and AHS. The season has gone superbly so far for the Petržalka side, and that was also the case in the first meeting with AHS, which they won 3:1. With two rounds left in the regular season, HKP’s players need to win just one game to lock up the trophy for the regular-season winner. AHS has also already clinched a playoff spot, but its current fourth place could easily be in danger if it drops points, and it could slide all the way down to seventh.

The last matchup at the RAHL Winter Cup is the RAHL2 “eastern derby” between Trnava Beast and HC Senec. These teams have met twice in the current season and their record is even. Trnava celebrated a 6:2 win in the first game, while Senec took the rematch with a commanding 5:0 victory. Trnava got off to a good start to the season but gradually began dropping points. Currently second to last in the standings, the team is on an eight-game winless streak, and if it wants to make a showing in the playoffs, it has to pick up in the last three rounds where it left off with its excellent performances at the Winter Cup, where it finished first. Senec has so far been sitting squarely in the middle of the standings this season. Its place in the playoffs is assured, so in the last three games of the regular season it can start rehearsing its “tactics” for the final phase of the season.

The RAHL Winter Classic in Hlohovec thus offers three different stories and three important games at the tail end of the regular season. For some it will be a fight for a last chance, for others a matter of confirming their form or holding their position ahead of the playoffs. It will all be decided right on the ice of the municipal rink at Bezručová 2 on Saturday, 31 January, from 8:30 until the last faceoff. Fans can expect tension, pace and hockey that carries weight.